Tanya Lee
Navigating Resistance: The Dual Struggle of Open RI against Capitalization, Inequalities, and the Status Quo
Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University
Supervisors: Prof.dr. Ludo Waltman, Dr. Kathleen Gregory, Dr. Alex Rushforth
Background
Tanya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science (S.IP) from Parahyangan Catholic University and a Master’s in International Political Economy from the University of Groningen (RUG). She has worked as a Research Assistant to Yulius Purwadi Hermawan, Chair of the Parahyangan Center for International Studies, on projects advancing Indonesia’s global role. Tanya is co-authoring two papers on digital technologies and politics with Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn, Deputy Head of International Relations at RUG. Her research interests focus on the intersection of political economy and the global movement of open research information.
Content
Paywalled databases like Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) are deeply embedded in traditional research workflows. These platforms disseminate research and provide “data products” used for decisions on hiring, promotions, and grants.
Open Research Information (ORI) has risen to challenge the commercialization of research which these platforms perpetuate, highlighting issues with black-box decision-making, where errors, gaps, and biases are hard to identify and correct, and the resulting indicators lack transparency and reproducibility. Additionally, decisions in research often reflect biases against less-represented languages, regions, and research areas. ORI is crucial for high-quality decision-making and aims to make science more open and accessible to all.
Despite its well-intentioned goals, ORI faces resistance from both prominent and lesser-known stakeholders. The former, deeply integrated into the market, may have little incentive to change. The latter may oppose ORI due to its association with Euro-American agendas or accept dependency within the existing system. The quality of ORI services and data also remains a concern and challenge across various stakeholder groups.
This research explores the political-economic dynamics behind ORI’s limited adoption, with a particular focus on the resistance from both prominent and marginalized stakeholders, by asking: How do political-economic dynamics shape the struggles of ORI, influencing its adoption and advancement from 2012 onwards?
This research uses a qualitative analysis method, along with a case study approach, to explore the power relations between stakeholders involved in the perpetuation of closed RI.
